Upstream view of Lock 19 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Lock 19 is located at Mile 14.3 on the C&O Canal towpath. It is a short walk downstream from the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center. See the Locks and Lockhouses web page for an interactive location map.

Lock 19 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is one of a number of locks within a short distance of the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center. Being in the busiest section of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, it and the other locks are in great condition. You can even see the working sluice, the channel that runs down the side of the lock and forms a small waterfall at the end. All locks had sluices, but today many have been filled in with dirt or are covered in vegetation and hard to spot. In most cases, the sluice was just a rudimentary ditch that was dug parallel to the lock. When the upstream gates were closed, it allowed water to flow around the lock instead of backing up into a pool of excess water that could spill over the banks of the canal or put additional pressure on the lock gates. The water emptied back into the canal just past the downstream gates. The idea is similar to that of a spillway on a dam.